The year-end CLE compliance deadline is little more than 48 hours away. If your busy schedule has not allowed you to complete your educational requirements already, you can still get them this week. The TBA's TennBarU began today with a blitz of showcase CLE programs and will continue Dec. 30 and 31. View videos of this year's best CLEs daily from 7 a.m. to 6:45 p.m. at the Tennessee Bar Center, 221 Fourth Avenue North in Nashville. Moderators will be present, so this will be considered live programming. The TBA also has more than 150 hours of interactive video and interactive text courses available online 24/7.

TODAY'S OPINIONSClick on the category of your choice to view summaries of today’s opinions from that court, or other body. A link at the end of each case summary will let you download the full opinion in PDF format. To search all opinions in the TBALink database or to obtain a text version of each opinion, go to our OpinionSearch page. If you have forgotten your password or need to obtain a password, you can look it up on TBALink at the TBA's Membership Central.

You can obtain full-text versions of the opinions two ways. We recommend that you download the Opinions to your computer and then
open them from there. 1) Click the URL at end of each Opinion paragraph below. This should give you the option to
download the original document. If not, you may need to right-click on the URL to get the option to save the file
to your computer. 2) Do a key word search in the Search Link area of TBALink. This option will allow you to view
and save a plain-text version of the opinion.

In this appeal, we are asked to determine whether Express Disposal had a legal, vested right to conduct its garbage collection business for residences in Berryhill prior to its annexation by the city of Memphis, such that Memphis' exercise of its exclusive right to provide municipal services in Berryhill constituted a taking of Express Disposal's property rights without just compensation in violation of Article I, section 21 of the Tennessee Constitution. We find that Memphis' takeover of residential garbage collection in Berryhill did not amount to a constitutional taking, such that Express Disposal was entitled to compensation. Thus, we affirm the circuit court's dismissal of Express Disposal's claim for failure to state a claim upon which relief could be granted.

The sole issue in this case is whether The Gene and Florence Monday Foundation, Inc., ("the Foundation") has standing to challenge a 2006 sale of property by The Diocese of East Tennessee ("the Diocese") and St. James Episcopal Church ("the Church"). The property was conveyed in1
1987 by Mr. Monday and his wife, Florence Monday (collectively "the Mondays"), to the Diocese and the Church through a "Deed of Gift and Assignment of Leases" ("the Deed of Gift"). After the 2006 sale, the Foundation, which was not in existence at the time the gift was made, sued the Diocese, the Church and others, claiming that the price paid for the property was too low and that other conditions of the gift had not been met. We affirm the trial court's judgment. In so doing, we hold, as did the trial court, that the Foundation does not have standing to bring this suit.

This appeal arises from a beer board's revocation of Petitioner's permit to sell beer. The trial court determined that, under T. C. A. section 57-5-108, it could not consider the board's administrative record where it had not been moved into evidence by the board. The trial court granted Petitioner's motion for directed verdict, reversing the board's decision to revoke the beer permit. We reverse and
remand for further proceedings.

This is a fraud case in which plaintiff Nancy Styles alleged that Ron and Shelley Blackwood fraudulently induced her elderly mother to invest $75,000 in the singing group the Blackwood Quartet with no intention of making any payments on the "investment" or using the money for the
asserted purpose of the investment. Following a bench trial, the trial court ruled for the plaintiff, finding that "this is as close to a flim-flam as I've ever seen" and that Mr. Blackwood's testimony was "absolutely unequivocally unbelievable." The trial court rescinded the written agreement memorializing the investment and awarded Ms. Styles $75,000 plus prejudgment interest. Upon review, we affirm the judgment of the trial court, finding that in this case the pivotal question of whether the Blackwoods acted with the fraudulent intent not to perform under the agreement was determined in significant part by the trial court's assessment of credibility based on its observation
of the demeanor of the witnesses.

In this appeal, we are asked to determine whether the chancery court erred in failing to allow Appellant to proceed with discovery after the State of Tennessee filed its Motion to Dismiss, in dismissing Appellant's Complaint and Amended Complaint based solely on argument, without any
proof by testimony or documentation, and in dismissing Appellant's Complaint and Amended Complaint in regards to BellSouth which did not file a motion to dismiss or present evidence or documentation prior to the court's dismissal. On appeal, Appellant contends that it was entitled to
proceed with discovery before the court ruled on the State's motions. Likewise, Appellant argues that the State should have been required to prove ownership of an easement right of way over Appellant's property. Finally, Appellant contends that because BellSouth filed only a Notice of Appearance, Appellant's claim against BellSouth should not have been dismissed. We affirm the trial court's dismissal.

Defendant-Appellant, Marcus Greer (hereinafter "Greer"), was convicted by a Marshall County Circuit Court jury of possession of .5 grams or more of cocaine with the intent to sell and possession of .5 grams or more of cocaine with the intent to deliver. The trial court merged the convictions and sentenced Greer to twelve years in confinement. On appeal, Greer argues the following: (1) the trial court erred in denying his motions to redact or suppress his statements; and (2) the evidence was insufficient to support his convictions. After our review of the record, we affirm the judgment of the trial court.

The petitioner, David Lee Kestner, appeals from the Davidson County Criminal Court's denial of post-conviction relief from his guilty-plea convictions of first degree felony murder, aggravated burglary, and especially aggravated robbery, for which he is serving concurrent sentences of life, three years, and fifteen years, respectively. The petitioner contends that he received the ineffective
assistance of counsel and that he did not knowingly and voluntarily enter into the guilty pleas. We affirm the judgment of the trial court.

Robert E. Cooper, Jr., Attorney General and Reporter; Lacy Wilber, Assistant Attorney General; C. Berkeley Bell, Jr., District Attorney General; and Kimberly Morrison, Assistant District Attorney General, for the appellee, State of Tennessee.

Judge: WILLIAMS

The defendant, Von Arlen McKinney, was convicted of driving under the influence (DUI), third offense; driving on a revoked license, fourth offense; possession of drug paraphernalia; and violation of the implied consent law. He was sentenced to eleven months and twenty-nine days at seventy-five percent for his DUI offense; eleven months and twenty-nine days for driving on a revoked license, to run concurrent to the DUI; eleven months and twenty-nine days for possession of drug paraphernalia, to run concurrent to the other sentences; and eleven months and twenty-nine days for violation of the implied consent law, with five days to run consecutive to his other sentences, for a total effective sentence of eleven months and thirty-four days. On appeal, the defendant argues that the evidence was insufficient and that the sentence imposed was excessive. After careful review, we affirm the judgments from the trial court.

Donna Leigh Hargrove, District Public Defender; and Michael J. Collins, Assistant District Public Defender, for the appellant, Kenneth Paul Vanderpool.

Robert E. Cooper, Jr., Attorney General and Reporter; Sophia S. Lee, Assistant Attorney General, William Michael McCown, District Attorney General; and Michael D. Randles, Assistant District Attorney General, for the appellee, the State of Tennessee.

Judge: WOODALL

Defendant pled guilty to three counts of forgery, one count of theft of less than $500, and two counts of failure to appear. Following a sentencing hearing, the trial court sentenced Defendant as a career offender to six years on each count of forgery to be served concurrently with each other and six years on each count of failure to appear to be served concurrently with each other, but consecutively to the sentence for the forgery convictions. Defendant was sentenced to eleven months, twenty-nine days for the theft under $500 to be served concurrently to the other sentences. These sentences were then run consecutively to the nine year sentence Defendant was already serving. On appeal, Defendant argues that the sentence is excessive and contrary to law. After a thorough review of the record, we affirm the judgments of the trial court.

The American Bar Association's Standing Committee on Legal Aid and Indigent Defendants highlighted Tennessee's civil legal services campaign in its newsletter last week.
The report details the campaign, which will include programs to educate community leaders about the problem, promotion of innovative involvement by judges such as preferential docketing of cases where clients are receiving pro bono representation, recognition of law firms that adopt pro bono policies, and support for the Tennessee Bar Association's Public Service Day on April 4, 2009.

With budget cuts abounding, juvenile justice programs have not escaped. The Associated Press takes a state-by-state look at juvenile justice program cuts. For Tennessee, the report says grants will be cut "by $1.7 million, or 26 percent, which affects after-school programs, truancy prevention and child and family interventions. More cuts expected."

Former Chattanooga attorney Philip Langford doesn't regret his decision to take his family to India and work for the International Justice Mission. Since his move in 2006, he has led a team of Indian lawyers, investigators and case workers as they seek out and prosecute instances of forced labor. While there are strong Indian laws against sex trafficking and forced labor, Langford says, the political will to enforce them is weak because of an inefficient legal system already burdened with countless cases. "We all want to do something that matters," he tells

For 2009, judges are alone among federal workers -- members of Congress included -- in not getting a cost-of-living allowance (COLA). Lawmakers get their COLA automatically -- $4,700 for 2009 -- but they refused to authorize the same 2.8 percent bump for judges.
"Federal judges are currently under-compensated because Congress has repeatedly failed to adjust judicial salaries in response to inflation," said James C. Duff, director of the Administrative Office of the U.S Courts.

Famous civil rights leader Rev. Dr. Benjamin Hooks has announced his retirement from preaching at 83. Hooks spent his entire career campaigning for civil rights, and as he prepares to retire from preaching, he says he'll never retire from the fight for social justice and the desire to inspire young people.

The chief deputy for the Bradley County Sheriff's Office asked members of the county finance committee recently to amend the budget to move money into a fund for maintenance and custodial care of its five-year-old justice center. "We are not like most office buildings," Capt. Jim Hodgson said. "We are open 24/7 and 365 and the people we have in jail are not the most careful clientele."

The TBA has partnered with First Horizon Msaver Inc. to offer Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) and HSA-qualified health plans for individuals and groups to members. HSAs are tax-advantaged accounts that let you set aside money to pay for current and future medical expenses. For more information, or to obtain an instant quote for an HSA-qualified health plan, call the TBA's dedicated toll-free customer care line at (866) 257-2659 or visit the TBA member web site.